Our Opinion: Return Libri to circuit clerk's position

Circuit Court Clerk Tony Libri is not a particularly popular individual, even inside the local Republican Party, which he used to chair. But Libri has not had trouble running his office, making steady progress in improving and modernizing it over the last 16 years and has solid plans for his fifth term.

By The Editorial Board

The State Journal-Register

By The Editorial Board

Posted Oct. 26, 2012 at 12:01 AM
Updated Oct 26, 2012 at 2:10 PM

By The Editorial Board

Posted Oct. 26, 2012 at 12:01 AM
Updated Oct 26, 2012 at 2:10 PM

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We’re entering the phase of our endorsement process where we consider whether longtime Sangamon County incumbents ought to be booted out of office in favor of their challengers.

These offices don’t make big decisions about state pensions, abortion rights, foreign policy or the state budget. Most county offices perform mundane, everyday tasks that don’t seem that important until you find yourself in court, registering to vote or paying your property taxes. The political parties see them as important posts for up-and-coming politicians to cut their teeth.

For years, this page has looked at county incumbents and their challengers and based endorsements on the answers to several questions: Has his or her office been run efficiently? Has it been free of scandal? Does his or her challenger have any cutting-edge ideas? How good a case is he or she making for voters to fire the incumbent?

Circuit Court Clerk Tony Libri is not a particularly popular individual, even inside the local Republican Party, which he used to chair. He’s brash, sometimes saying things you can’t believe came out of his mouth. In 2008, he defeated his opponent, Springfield City Clerk Cecilia Tumulty, by about 5,500 votes. It would not be surprising if this race is closer than that because of Libri’s political troubles.

But Libri has not had trouble running his office, making steady progress in improving and modernizing it over the last 16 years and has solid plans for his fifth term. The circuit clerk’s ability to innovate is determined by how fast judges approve ideas. Libri is jumping on innovations when the court system allows them, such as allowing electronic filing of court cases and appeals.

When we noted that after five terms, some people would say Libri has become the definition of a career politician, he said, “I would agree with them if we weren’t moving the ball forward.”

Libri’s opponent, Kristin DiCenso, works at the state Department of Transportation. She is enthusiastic, driven and has some good ideas, including establishing Saturday hours in the office (an idea Libri said will be too costly) and putting more services online. Voters who select her won’t be making a bad choice.

DiCenso’s criticisms of Libri are mostly minor: He takes a car allowance. Libri says he uses it for a truck to drive records to an off-site storage facility. He gets a cellular phone allowance. The county paying for cell phones for elected officials is not an unreasonable expense.

But one of DiCenso’s criticisms does hit the mark: Libri continues to take campaign contributions from employees and those that do business with the office, a practice that has been mostly outlawed at the state level but has been overlooked at the local level. Libri does not see a problem with it, arguing his employees and contractors have the right to participate in the election process.

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We believe the potential for scandal at the local level is as great as when Rod Blagojevich lavished contributors with contracts and appointments. The fact that Libri finds it acceptable in today's political environment is hard to fathom.

Nevertheless, taking contributions from employees and contractors is not against the law yet, even though it should be.

There have been no major scandals in Libri’s circuit court office, and he is doing the job competently, so we can’t recommend that voters fire him. He is endorsed.